Goldenfire
by Inuhsien
Summary: Goldenfire is a 'what if' story; what if a queen *had* to chew firestone? What are the repercussions, and how does the Weyr deal with it, in the middle of a Pass? Set in the First Pass, mostly canon. (Updates sporatically)
1. Chapter 1

_**Much has been discussed by fans about gold/green fertility. Some say Anne retconed the rules established in**_ **Dragonflight** ** _and_ Dragonquest _when she wrote_** **Dragonsdawn,** ** _despite falling back into the original stance of 'chewing firestone = infertile females' in_** **The Dragonlovers Guide to Pern (1st ed.)** ** _(The second edition fell back on the stance established in_** **Dragonsdawn** ** _, indicating that even Anne wasn't sold one way or another in my mind.) But let's take the first premise, that firestone would render a queen infertile, for what possible reason would any queenrider ever feed her dragon firestone?  
Perhaps to save her queen?_**

* * *

 **First Pass, Year 35**

Every sign pointed to an inauspicious Hatching. First, the eggs decided to crack during Fall, so the new dragonets were only greeted by their dame, Zilth and dragonpairs too injured to fly. Second Thread had decided to fall during a bad windstorm. The injured numbered in the mid-thirties and nine fatalities made for a very difficult Hatching Feast. Third, the first egg to crack was a green who ignored all the candidates in favor of an off Sands impression of the only surviving male heir of Tarvi Telgar. Senior Weyrwoman Elsbeth Jameson was still smarting from that call - Teglar was _not_ pleased that his only grandson, visiting the Weyr as part of his geology studies, had made the cross gendered Impression. But young Sal was so happy with Fredoth, and another male greenrider would be most welcomed by the admittedly small but lonely population of female blue riders.

The fourth sign came with a knock at the door. Daoud Ali, the resident geneticist poked his head in.

"Sorry Elsbeth, you got a moment?"

"Come in Daoud." The small wiry man entered, clutching his signature clipboard in his hands.

"It's happening again." He said apologetically, although Elsbeth was expecting that. Pinching her brow she pointed to the chair opposite her.

"How many hatchlings this time?" The last time bronze Damarth flew Zilth nine greens had resulted with a strange gait. X-rays had shown fused ischiums, and while it didn't hinder the dragons in flight, several thusly affected dragons had already suffered blockages after large meals. When the geneticists had been called in, they reported the condition to be a sex-linked recessive trait. Clearly, both Zilth and Damarth were carriers.

"A full quarter of the dragonets." So half of the new greens. Idly Elsbeth wondered if Sal's Fredoth was one of the afflicted.

"Drat, Sorka was right, we should have swapped Amanda and Zilth when they fledged." Elsbeth grimaced. Zilth and Damarth had been from the same clutch, and the Fort Weyrwoman had warned of the dangers of inbreeding.

"There's more, I'm afraid." Daoud actually looked sorrowful. "The new queen has it too."

"Why is this a problem, aside from the possibility of draconic arthritis later in life?" Elsbeth asked warily.

"You weren't breeding the greens, so we didn't bring this up before, but with a fused ischium, breeding Paevth will kill her. She'll suffer obstructive dystocia." He shifted in his seat.

"She'll become egg bound?" It was rare, but a holder had lost her queen lizard when she couldn't clutch three months before. It had not been a pleasant death. Daoud nodded.

"Are you positive?" Every queen was needed, what with Thread falling nearly every day on Pern at this point of the Pass. For all that the dragonriders were making a difference, the attrition rate for young riders was still appallingly high. If they could survive their first two years of Threadfighting, most dragonpairs were in the clear, but they lost far too many during those first two years.

"I'd need an X-ray to be 100% certain, but from previous examples of this defect, the probability is high." He sighed. "In fact, If we could get that X-ray in before she's a month old, it would be best. Otherwise I'm not sure she'll fit inside the machine."

"We'll do it tomorrow, if you can be ready for us then." Elsbeth needed to speak to both Amanda and Heidi, Paevth's rider. She wondered briefly if she should call Sean, then discarded the idea. Sean advocated independence among the Weyrs, and as it was was busy enough with keeping Fort Weyr Flight ready. Besides, a queen that couldn't breed was indifferent from a green.

Or was she? Elsbeth nodded her farewells as Daoud took his leave. Greens could at least flame - wasn't there something about queens not being able to produce flame?

 _Dearest?_ She reached out to her queen, sunning on a high ledge.

 _Yes?_ Flatreth replied, her mindtouch warm as the sun she lay in.

 _Would you mind asking_ _Faranth to ask Sorka why queens can't flame?_

There was a moment of silence, during which she refilled her mug with _klah._

 _She says they tried feeding their queens firestone, but they weren't able to produce flame. Later scrutiny of Kitti Ping's notes showed that she added a sex-linked sterility component to firestone consumption and no further attempts were made._ Flatreth sounded confused, but dutifully repeated Sorka's words. _Sorka wishes to know why you ask._

 _Tell her Paevth has a genetic flaw that will make breeding her impossible. And ask her if she has room for another queen. Zilth needs to be re-Weyred._

Another long pause as she sipped her _klah_ , then Flatreth's gentle mind touch was back.

 _Fort cannot, but Benden has room for one more. Sorka asks what the genetic flaw is._

 _A fused ischium_. She repeated. _It will lead to egg binding if she were to breed. Our geneticist says its a sex-linked recessive trait._

Another pause, although shorter this time. _  
_

 _Sorka asks that you send her a report and include Zilth's genealogy with it. Torene wants to know how soon Zilth and Amanda will be arriving?_

 _Not just yet. I'll let her know as soon as I do. Will you ask Zilth to ask Amanda if she has a moment?_

* * *

 ** _Feel free to contact me if you notice any misspellings or grammatically errors.  
_**


	2. Chapter 2

Unsurprisingly, Amanda threw a fit, first accusing Elsbeth of being jealous of her, then the other queenriders of hating her, and finally tearfully begging not to be sent to Fort. This was why Elsbeth had her meet her up in her windowless office, rather than the floor of the Bowl. When Amanda stopped wailing and reduced down to silent sobbing Elsbeth explained the problem with Paevth, and how for the sake of any future daughters of Zilth, she was being transferred to Benden Weyr. Amanda was still teary eyed when she left, but Flatreth reported Zilth hadn't even roused from a post meal slumber, which Elsbeth took as a sign that Amanda once again was more dramatics than actually unhappy with the news. Next was to speak to Heidi, and while she didn't relish this meeting any more than her meeting with Amanda, she at least didn't have to worry about the waterworks.

Heidi Graf was sitting with the rest of the newest riders as they were being taught about oiling their dragonets. Elsbeth caught her eye and indicated she wanted to speak to her with a tilt of her head. Heidi excused herself and joined Elspeth under the arch of the entrance.

"Heidi, we're a little concerned about Paevth." She started, understating her worry. Heidi had been a last minute addition, and Elsbeth hadn't had the opportunity to get to know her well.

"It's her gait, isn't it?" Heidi stated calmly.

"It's related to that, yes. Donald explained about the blockages those dragonets with that gait had?" Elsbeth asked. Heidi nodded, then added quietly, "There's more though, isn't there?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. We need to take an X-ray to verify, but we believe the same flaw will lead to egg binding." Heidi blanched, and little Paevth turned around, staring at them.

"Calm down, we have a solution." Elsbeth said quickly, as the little gold clumsily moved over to her rider. Heidi took a deep breath, and nodded, gathering her queen in her arms.

"Firestone will render her sterile. She will be more like a giant green, but believe me, we won't let her die." Elsbeth explained. Looking relieved Heidi nodded again, then asked, looking understandably puzzled, "Can queens flame?"

"Not to my understanding, but that's okay. You can still fight with a flamethrower." Elsbeth smiled. "It's not as glamorous as fighting in the upper Flight, but we're kept busy catching what makes it through the Wings."

* * *

Daoud called Elsbeth into the medical bay, the x-rays hanging on an illuminated light board. To better explain the situation he had hung three different x-rays; that of a normal gold, that of an afflicted green, and Paevth's.

"As you can see, the opening in Paevth's ischium is much smaller than it should be. In fact, you might consider telling Heidi that she needs to feed Paevth less and more often, at least until she's catching prey on her own." He explained.

"Are we sure firestone will cause sterility?" Elsbeth asked, grimacing at the x-rays. "I don't think we could handle another dragonless rider."

"I checked Kitti Pings notes and ran a DNA test, Paevth has the sterility gene." Daoud reassured her.

* * *

Looking back, Elsbeth honestly couldn't remember when Heidi and Paevth fell off her radar. After all, once they were flighted and trained in the fine art of _between_ ing they showed up to every Fall and participated in every drill with the Queen Wing, but they simply didn't mingle with the other queenriders. Elsbeth, prior to being Searched, had actually toyed with psychiatry, and found the developing sub-societies within the Weyr fascinating to watch. While not quite forming cliques, the dragonriders had fallen into one of three groups. Queenriders and female greenriders made one group, often supporting each other in all those life experiences, birth, heartbreak, the joy and loneliness that comes from being a dragonrider. Bronzeriders, brownriders and male blueriders comprised of a second group, the oft joked about _machismo_ of the Weyr, and like the females, they helped each other deal with their victories and their losses. The third group was significantly smaller, made up of cross gendered Impressions. This group's dynamic was a little different than the other two, much more mentor-mentored than the other two groups, with tight, almost familial bonds. Perhaps that's why Elsbeth found Heidi sitting with that group at dinner. It wasn't like the dragonriders didn't mingle - many of the male greenriders sat and chatted with their dragon's weyrmates, the gold- and greenriders mixed and flirted with the bronze-, brown- and blueriders. And the female blueriders would shoot the breeze with anyone, so it wasn't a something Elsbeth had noticed her first few years, but she had started paying more attention after the death of a well liked male greenrider.

But when Zachariah Chen, the rider whose brown had flown Paevth asked for Elsbeth help to plan a small birthday party for Heidi, she realized with a start that Heidi had been at the Weyr for almost four years.

For the next couple of days Elsbeth watched from a distance, noting how Heidi interacted with the other dragonriders. She thought she was being discreet, until Heidi marched up to her before Fall and asked point blank if she was in some sort of trouble, citing the Weyrwoman's surveillance.

"What-? No! Of course not. I just wondered why I didn't seem to see you much at meals." Elsbeth protested. Heidi eyed her distrustfully.

"This isn't about Paevth rising a twice already this year, is it?" She asked bluntly. It was true that the second time Paevth rose, only four months after her first mating flight, several greenriders had complained to Elsbeth about Heidi 'poaching' lovers, but she had looked into the complaints at the time and had decided there was no truth in them.

"I swear, Heidi, you're not in trouble. I just noticed you never seem to join the other queenriders at meals, and I was wondering why." She explained, tightening her riding straps around Flatreth's neck.

"I don't feel welcome." Heidi replied defensively. "Paevth's never going to clutch, and the other queenriders don't like that Paevth rises so often."

"I... I'm sorry, I had no idea." Elsbeth replied, stunned by the admission. _Flatreth, is this true?_

 _Gaudith and Xursanth and Poteth say their riders are bothered by that, yes._

Elsbeth mentally groaned, that was half of the Queen Wing.

"I'll do what I can, Heidi." She assured her.

Heidi shook her head. "Don't bother. I'm just keeping my distance until they know they can trust me."

* * *

Daoud frowned, scrolling down through the database.

"Jess, where's Paevth's record?" He asked over the monitor of his new assistant. Jessica Gar, interning under him for the next few months, looked up from her terminal.

"She's in there, under 'P'."

"I don't see her." Daoud squinted at the screen. Jessica got up and walked over to him, peering at the screen.

"Here's your problem, you're in the Queen databank. Paevth's in the Green bank. Look." Reaching over him she quickly brought up the Green registry.

"But Paevth isn't a green, she's a Queen." Daoud now frowned at his assistant. "You shouldn't file her in with the greens just because she isn't breeding."

"What are you talking about?" Jessica gave him a baffled look. "She's clearly a green. I mean look." She clicked open the DNA profile. "The genes for sterility and pyrobreathing are here and here. She has to be a green."

* * *

 _ **Story updates listed in story description.  
**_

 _ **If you notice any glaring mistakes, grammatical or timeline from Anne's works, please let me know.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Daoud hurried out of the sled. He had caught a ride up to the Weyr with the tithe delivery, nimbly picking through the folk helping unpack. Elsbeth caught sight of his frantic waving, and met him half way.

"Is something wrong?" She asked as he grinned at her a trifle absurdly.

"No, at least, most likely not," Daoud said, open his folder and showing her a paper with three profiles on it. "The genetic profiles, tell me what you see." He had very conveniently high lighted two sets of DNA sequences. Elsbeth, enjoying a rare day with no Fall scheduled for the following day, took the offered profiles and decided to humor him. ''I see... the genes for sterility, so these are female dragons, " the triple helix had given that much away, "I see two sets of phosphorus triggers...? " She glanced back at the geneticist. Daoud nodded. "So these are the profiles of a gold and two greens?" Daoud shook his head and grinning like a fool removed the sticky notes from the top of the page, obscuring the names. Elsbeth gaped for a moment, stunned at the implication.

"How did we miss this?"

* * *

Heidi walked back to her weyr, her bucket of firestone swinging slightly as she took the stairs up to the second level weyrs. Paevth rated a bowl level weyr, but Heidi opted out, claiming to prefer the privacy of the second level. It had done little to mollify the other queenriders, but now that Z'chariah's Breeth had flown Paevth three times in a row, she sensed a slight easing of dislike from the rest of the Queen's Wing. She frowned slightly, sidestepping a broken step. It wasn't like they actively worked to hurt her or Paevth, they just didn't do anything to make her feel welcome. Not that she was one to talk. For all that Z'chariah was a kind and supportive lover, she hadn't opened up herself to him, unwilling to let anyone in after R'chard. She would still be celibate, had Paevth not risen several months after the Threadfall that took R'chard's life.

Voices coming from her ledge startled her, and she peered around the corner.

 _Why didn't you tell me we had visitors?_ Heidi asked Paevth, as Elsbeth smiled and greeted her.

"Heidi! Please, join us." The Weyrwoman gestured her over to her and Daoud's side.

 _You were thinking very hard._ Paevth explained, crunching something loudly. _I didn't want to interrupt._ She added as Heidi frowned at the half emptied bag of firestone at her feet.

"Why are you feeding my dragon so much firestone?" She asked bluntly. It only took a small bucket of firestone every other day was needed to keep Paevth sterile, any more than that and it meant some other dragon might be shorted. Even though supplies of firestone were plentiful, no one wanted to run the risk of running out of stone mid-Fall.

"We're testing a theory-" Daoud interrupted Elsbeth hurriedly ''hypothesis", "-right, hypothesis, regarding Paevth." The Weyrwoman finished with a smile.

"Please, let me tell her?" Daoud entreated, almost childish in his undisguised glee.

"Tell me what?" Heidi asked, growing increasingly baffled.

"Go right ahead." Elsbeth demurred to the geneticist.

"The same gene that attaches itself to the flaw that fuses Paevth's ischium is related to the pyrospiranus chromosome." Daoud explained proudly.

"The what?" Heidi asked, completely lost in the jargon.

 _This._ Paevth turned her head and exhaled a plume of fire, twice as long as Heidi was tall.

Elsbeth grabbed Dauod's hands as they cheered, dancing and whooping with delight as Heidi stared at her gold, mouth agape.

 _Do you think we will be allowed to fly higher when flying Fall?_ Paevth asked, arching her neck in pleasure at having astounding her rider.

 _I think only a fool would try to stop you._ Heidi replied finally, going and hugging her queen, tears of pride threatening to break loose.

* * *

 _ **Short chapter, sorry, next one should be the longest and final chapter. Please if you see any misspellings or grammatical errors, let me know. Thank you, as always for following the story, and the updates will be listed in the end of the story blurb.**_


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